初來乍到Arriving in China

文/史蒂芬·方嘉提 (Steven Fogarty)譯/史聰一

（作者單位：廣州譽德萊國際學校）

（the author is from Utahloy International School Guangzhou）

史蒂芬·方嘉提的全家福

我愿意同諸位分享的故事不勝枚舉，這次我要講述的故事卻使我感到尤為貼心。

這個故事講述了我們一家來到中國最初幾日的所見所聞。

當一個人初次來到一個國度，縮手縮腳的經歷或將不可避免，尤其是帶著兩個孩子并且不會講任何中文，而且對新的地方一點兒也不了解。幸運的是，我們得貴人相助，邁克費什先生（非其真實姓名，以下簡稱費什先生）來機場迎接我們：他不僅是我未來在學校的同事，還是邀請我們來華之人。對此，我記憶猶新，因為當時費什先生本人一直處于緊張不安的情緒中，他似乎急于將我們送到巴士之上，并盡快讓我們入住其體貼安排的公寓之中。總之，一切越快越好！

There are many stories that I would like to tell, but this is one that is particularly close to my heart.

This is the story of my family and myself, and our first couple of days’ experience in China.

Now arriving in any country for the first time can be a rather daunting experience especially if you have a family with two small children, you don’t yet speak any Chinese and you have no idea what to expect. Luckily for us we were in good hands and were met at the airport by Mr. MacFish (not his real name),one of my future colleagues at the school that invited us here. I remember it vividly because he is a rather nervous man, and he seemed to be in a great hurry to get us on the bus and to the flat that they had kindly arranged for us, as quickly as possible.

對我而言，每當來到一個新的國度后，尋找自動取款機并兌換一定金額的當地貨幣，已然成為例行公事；如若不然，我便會在機場的外匯兌換點，用先前隨身攜帶的本幣兌換一些外幣。但是，費什先生雷厲風行的舉動，讓我不敢有絲毫的耽擱與拖沓。

At this point I should say that having arrived in a new country,it is a custom of mine to visit an ATM (cash point) and collect some of the local currency or, failing that, to visit an exchange point at the airport and change some of the cash that I brought with me, but Mr. MacFish seem in such a sweaty rush that I didn’t have the nerve to delay him.

接著，我們全家被接送至一所屬于自己的公寓中，這天是個周六。這里相當不錯，并附帶一些指引信息。因為筋疲力盡與時差作梗，當得知這里能夠在周一早晨乘坐巴士前往學校后，我們一家隨即癱倒在凌亂的床上睡了幾個小時。但對我們而言，休息時間并沒有持續太久，因為孩子們在飛機上睡得很香（小孩子的典型特征），在一個陌生的環境中，孩子們熱衷于探索每一個角落，所以我和妻子必須保持警惕。此時，妻子要求我必須去做的第一件事情便是外出購買食物，因為過不了多久饑餓感便會籠罩全家。于是，我帶著信用卡與一些歐元，希望能夠找到兌換人民幣的地方，那樣我就能夠在超市購買一些食物。果然不久之后我便找到一家擁有自動取款機的銀行，取款機上顯示能夠使用VISA，并且支持英文服務（并不是所有的取款機都支持英文服務）。于是，我迅速掏出了我的信用卡，試圖換取一些人民幣。那么，結果如何呢？得到的答案是：不可以！

我在國內的銀行擁有足夠的信用額度，并在出國前夕已確認過，我甚至詢問了信用卡能否在中國使用，銀行回復我說沒有問題。然而，在永泰當地輾轉了兩三家銀行后，我意識到使用信用卡并不奏效。這時我身無分文（人民幣），無法在超市買到食物，我的孩子們將會餓肚子。冷靜思考后，我認為事情應該可以解決，因為我隨身攜帶了許多歐元現金。于是，我找到一位銀行職員詢問哪里可以兌換人民幣，但他們只是茫然地望著我，平靜地用中文對我說著什么。之后，他們給了我一個尷尬的微笑，看起來因為什么原因而覺得抱歉。其實我能夠理解，并不是每一個人都會說英語，于是我決定詢問其他人，因為我認為必然有人懂英語，畢竟這是國際通用語言，難道不是嗎？但我確實錯了，在其他銀行，被詢問過的銀行職員們全部都是同樣的反應：先對我用中文說些什么，然后面露愧疚地站在原地。也許，他們在后悔上學期間并沒有足夠重視英語課。我該何去何從？

事實證明，周六下午在永泰兌換外幣絕非易事。這時我開始有些氣惱，饑餓與壓抑并存。我不是一位稱職的父親，我究竟做了什么，把全家帶到了這個濕熱的地方并且讓他們饑腸轆轆——這是何等的絕望（每當悲劇浮出水面時，那些具有西班牙基因的人們總是按捺不住）。如果下一位銀行職員仍然對我尷尬一笑，那我著實做好了尖叫的準備。但幸運的是，我遇到了一位美麗的女士，她的英語非常出色，伴隨著令人倍感安慰的音調，同時向我解釋該業務并非每家銀行在周六都能夠辦理，應該前往市中心的一家銀行進行辦理。隨后，她為我寫下一些路線指引，并告訴我搭車前往那里即可。欣喜之余，我準備帶著滿滿的溫暖離開銀行，但當我走下臺階之時，突然意識到：如果出租車司機載我到任何地方，我都需要付現金！沒有現金使我感到絕望，這該如何是好？我折回銀行，向那位唯一能與我進行語言交流的女士進行詢問，周圍是否存在其他銀行能夠步行前往？她在詢問了她的同事們后，抱歉地告知我：那是他們所知唯一能夠進行兌換的銀行。

Now we have been left in a rather nice flat on our own on a Saturday with some instructions and told were we may catch the bus that will take us to school on the Monday morning, so exhausted and jet lagged after a long flight from Europe, we collapse onto the unmade beds and fall asleep for a couple of hours, not long because our children slept wonderfully on the plane (typical of children) and being in a strange environment they are keen to put their little fingers everywhere and so we have to keep our guard up. Now the first thing that my wife quite rightly tells me is to go out and find something to eat, we will soon have a number of hungry mouths to feed. So with that I take my credit card and some euros and hope that there is somewhere where I can find some local currency so that I can buy food at the super market. Being fairly resourceful it wasn’t long before I found a bank with cash machines and promptly, tried to withdraw some money on my international credit card on a machine that clearly accepted VISA and even to my delight worked in English (they don’t all do that). Could I withdraw money? No.

I had plenty of credit available at my bank, I made sure of that before I left, I even asked if my card would work in China and my bank had told me that it would. After trying two or three different banks in Yongtai I realized that this just wasn’t going to work, I had no money and my children were going to go hungry unless I could find a way to buy some food at the supermarket. But wait, I should be OK because I brought plenty of cash in Euro’s, so I found a bank clerk and asked where I could change some money, they just gave me a blank look and said something calmly in Chinese, gave me an awkward smile and stood their looking guilty for some strange reason. So yes, not everyone can speak English, I decided to try and ask someone else, someone had to have some English, it is after all the lingua franca, is n’t it?No, even in other banks, the same reaction, they say something in Chinese and then just stand there looking guilty that perhaps they did not spend enough attention in English class when they were at school. What was I going to do?

Turns out that changing cash is not so easy in Yogtai on a Saturday afternoon, by this time I am beginning to get annoyed,hungry and stressed, I have failed as a father, what have I done,I have brought my family to this humid place and now I can’t feed them, oh what despair (that would be those Spanish genes with their love of tragedy coming to the surface at every opportunity). If one more bank clerk would give me an awkward look,I was ready to scream, but luckily for me I found a beautiful young lady who spoke wonderful English in a lovely reassuring voice, and explained that the service I was looking for is not provided by every bank on a Saturday, and that I should go and visit a bank in the center, so she wrote down some directions for me and explained that I could jump in a taxi and find my way with no problem. Happily, I left the bank with a warm feeling,and on my way down the steps it struck me that the taxi driver would need to be paid if he was to take me anywhere. I had nomoney Oh despair, what was I to do? I went back in, to the only person that I had found that could speak my language, and again asked if there was a bank close enough for me to perhaps walk to? She went to ask some of her colleagues and she came back to me apologetically, she had given me details of the only place that they knew of where I could change cash.

但是，她接下來的舉動卻讓我感到如此的偉大。

她來到柜臺后方打開了自己的錢包，拿出了屬于自己的20元人民幣，并將這些錢轉交到我的手中。她向我表示這些現金足夠打車使用，同時示意我不要擔心，償還與否并不重要。

對于一位處于煩躁狀態且不堪酷暑的外國人士而言，她的舉動著實令人感到震撼，使我無言以對。但我隨即明白：在這個國度，人與人之間的關系超乎金錢；我還明白了：我會喜歡中國，喜歡這里的文化，同時還有這里人與人之間的友善與耐心；我也意識到：我當時正身處于一個美好的地方。

之后，我的確找到了她為我指引的那家銀行，就在它剛剛準備結束一天營業之時，我兌換到了一些人民幣。后來，我還找到了一家超市，購買了食物，并帶回給公寓中的妻子與兩個孩子。后來，我們還找到了前往學校的路。然而，我卻再也沒有機會能找到返回那里的道路，再也沒能找到那天曾經幫助過我的天使，并向她說一聲“謝謝”！因此，我特此寫下這篇短文，希望在未來的某一天，她也許能夠聽到或讀到我寫的故事，并認出故事中的自己，這樣她便能夠收到我所致的謝意。

非常感謝你能夠在我來華第一天給予我的幫助，是你給我留下了持續深刻的印象，牢牢地牽掛于心。

（作者單位：廣州譽德萊國際學校）

She then did the most extraordinary thing that I have ever seen.

She opened up her own purse from behind the counter, she took out 20RMB of her own money, she held my hand and she gave it to me, she told me that this would be enough for the taxi and not to worry about paying her back.

What a shock, such kindness and to a crazy, over heated, foreign desperado, I didn’t know what to say. I knew then, that I was in a country where people valued each other more than money, I knew then that I would like China, and the culture and kindness and patience that people have for each other here, I knew then that I was in a good place.

I did find the bank that she sent me to, just before they closed for the day, and I managed to change some money. I managed to find a supermarket and buy food to take home for my wife and children, and we all made it to school a couple of days later,but I never managed to find my way back to the angel that had helped me that day, I never had the opportunity to find her to say ‘thank you’ and so I write this short essay in the hope that perhaps one day she might read or hear of my story and recognize herself in it and so receive my thanks.

Thank you for your help on my first day in China, you left a lasting impression that I will always hold close to my heart.

（the author is from Utahloy International School Guangzhou）